Doctor says I have AR, but nothing works.

I've been dealing with this since the pandemic. I used to be a very skilled runner, but at some point during the pandemic I started having huge problems breathing. The breathing problems made running harder, and like an idiot I blamed it on "Long Covid" and I ran even less just in case it was dangerous.

Fast forward 3 years the doctor scopes me and says my esophagus is irritated and he puts me on Omeprazol.

It's been a year and it has fixed exactly nothing. I have a huge amount of phlegm in my throat at all times and eating usually dislodges it. I have started to run again breathing issues be damned, and it seems like some runs go ok some runs are a disaster due to phlegm. I always hock up stuff as I run, sometimes it's really bad and I need to stop running and get it all up.

I stopped taking Omeprazol over 60 days ago and it hasn't gotten worse. The one thing I left out is that during the pandemic I started drinking more. I was drinking 2 to 4 drinks every single day. Why wife has been saying this whole time it's the White Claws Stupid. I have finally stopped those entirely, it's been 90 days and I've had exactly one alcoholic drink.

I am now finally seeing some improvement and I think maybe she was right all along, so my question is, will I eventually heal back to 100% normal? If I only drink 2 alcoholic drinks a year, can I get back to where I was? Does anyone see anything else in my story that jumps out at them? I've tried tons of dietary changes for a few weeks, but nothing has worked in that time frame. The 99.990% ban on alcohol is the only thing that seems to even remotely help, and it's glacially slow. Does it sound like I'm on the right path, but 4 years of damage will take 4 years to fix? Does everyone here agree with my wife that it is for sure alcohol that caused this? I'm getting really discouraged, just knowing I'm on the right path will mean so much to me.